Tehran

Submitted by Federico Pieraccini via Strategic-Culture.org,

The ink on the Iran nuclear deal wasn’t even dry yet when Tehran tested a next generation, surface-to-surface ballistic missile with the range to hit archrival Israel.

The Emad, as the new weapon is called, expands upon Iran’s already impressive arsenal of missiles which the IRGC insists are paramount to securing the country against regional threats. The country’s missile program, Tehran says, is purely defensive in nature.

On Tuesday, Kuwait's oil minister Anas al-Saleh delivered a rather stark warning to the rest of OPEC when he said the following about the much ballyhooed crude output freeze: "I'll go full power if there's no agreement. Every barrel I produce I'll sell.”

Submitted by Eugen von Bohm-Bawerk via Bawerk.net,

Oil prices limped higher overnight in their ubiquitous carry-driven way, only to tumble quickly this morning as the reality that, as Goldman says "at record levels, this production freeze doesn't help at all") and clear indications from the meetings in Tehran that Iran will do 'whatever it takes' to increase its production to pre-sanctions levels. WTI is back below $30.

As Bloomberg notes,

Any output-freeze agreement among key oil producers is being dismissed out of hand by oil bears.